Salvation In Death Part 2

"I 'm sorry?"

"Who was he connected to? Friends, teachers, old schoolmates."

"I ... I don't know." Her brows drew together. "He had many friends in the parish, of course, but if you mean from outside, or from before, I don't know."

"Did you notice anything off-in his mood, his routine, recently?"

"No, nothing." Rosa shook her head. "I came in to fix breakfast for him and Father Lopez this morning, before the funeral. He was very kind."

"What time did you get here?"

"Ah ... about six-thirty, a few minutes later than that."

"Was anyone else here?""No. I let myself in. I have a key, though. As usual, Father Lopez forgot to lock up. The fathers came back from Ma.s.s shortly after, and I gave them breakfast. We all talked about the service, then Father Flores went into the office to work on his sermon."

She pressed her fingertips to her lips. "How could this have happened?"

"We'll find out. Thank you," Eve said by way of dismissal, then stepped into the room.

I t held a narrow bed, a small dresser and mirror, a night table, a desk. No house 'link, she noted, no computer. The bed looked to be neatly made, and over its head a picture of Christ on the cross hung next to a crucifix. Seemed like overkill to Eve.

There were no personal photographs in evidence, no loose credits scattered over the dresser. She saw a Bible, a rosary of black and silver and a lamp on the bedside table, a comb and a pocket 'link on the dresser.

"That explains why he didn't have a 'link on him," Peabody commented. "I guess they don't take them when they do a service." As she turned, the sa.s.sy little flip at the ends of her dark hair bounced. "Well, I guess this won't take long, considering he didn't have a whole lot."

"Take a look in the other rooms. Just a scan from the doorway. See if they're the same as this."

As Peabody went out, Eve opened a dresser drawer with her sealed hand. White boxers, white unders.h.i.+rts, white socks, black socks. She pawed through, found nothing else. Another drawer held T-s.h.i.+rts. White, black, gray-some with team logos emblazoned on the front.

"They've got more stuff," Peabody announced. "Photographs, man junk."

"Define 'man junk,' " Eve said as she drew out the bottom drawer.

"Golf ball on a display tee, pile of discs, a pair of boxing gloves, that kind of thing."

"Check the closet here." Eve drew the bottom drawer all the way out, checked the bottom, the back.

"Priest's suits, two sets with pants, and one of those dresses. A pair of black shoes that look worn, two pairs of high-tops, one pair looks shot. Shelf ..." Peabody paused as she rummaged. "Cooler-weather gear. Two sweaters, two sweats.h.i.+rts, one hooded sweat jacket-Knicks."

After checking all the drawers, backs, bottoms, sides, Eve pulled the small dresser out from the wall, checked the back of the mirror.

With Peabody, she moved to the desk. I t held a date book, a few memo cubes, a short stack of brochures on the youth center, the Yankees'

schedule, and another for the Knicks.

Eve checked the last entries in the date book. "Vigil for Ortiz at the funeral home last night. Yankees game Wednesday. Let's see if anyone went with him. He's scheduled for FHC-need to find out what that is-for a week from this coming Sunday at two. Got a few games and sessions at the youth center on here. Pre-C counseling. Need to get the meaning of that. Two of those-last Monday and Tuesday. Names of whoever he was counseling in here. We'll run them down. The funeral's on here. A teaching gig at St. Cristobal's Friday, a baptism a week from Sat.u.r.day. All priestly, except for the Yankees."

She bagged the date book. "Take a look at the 'link," she told Peabody, then began on the little night table.

She flipped through the Bible, found a few small pictures of saints. In Hebrews, she read an underscored line: And thus, having had long patience, he got the promise. And in Proverbs: With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity.

Interesting. She bagged the Bible for evidence. Inside the drawer were a couple more community flyers, and a mini-game player. She found a silver medal taped behind the drawer. "Well, well. Why does a priest tape a religious medal behind a drawer?"

Peabody stopped her own search. "What kind of medal?"

"I t's a woman, with the robe thing, hands folded, and it looks like she's standing on a pillow or something with a little kid holding her up."

"I t's probably the Virgin Mary, and the Baby Jesus. And, yeah, weird place for a medal."

Carefully, Eve peeled the tape away, turned the freed medal over. "Lino, May La Virgen de Guadalupe watch over you-Mama. Dated May 12, 2031."

"Rosa said she thought his parents died when he was a boy-and he'd have been about six at this date," Peabody commented. "Maybe Lino's a nickname, a term of affection in Spanish?"

"Maybe. Why tape it to the back of a drawer instead of wearing it, or keeping it in a drawer? Are priests allowed to wear jewelry?" Eve wondered.

"Probably not big honking rings or chains, but I 've seen them wearing crosses and medals and stuff." T o get a closer look, Peabody squatted down.

"Like that sort of thing."

"Yeah. Yeah. So why is this hidden? You hide something so n.o.body sees it, and you hide it close when you want to look at it in private now and then. This mattered to him, whether it was his, a friend's or relative's, or he picked it up in a secondhand store, it mattered. I t looks like silver," she murmured, "but it's not tarnished. You have to polish silver to keep it s.h.i.+ny."

After another study, she bagged it. "Maybe we can trace it. What about the 'link?""Logged transmissions, in and out from Roberto Ortiz-that would be the late Mr. Ortiz's oldest surviving son. A couple to and from the youth center, and the oldest last week to Father Freeman."

"Okay, we'll have a look and listen. Let's call the sweepers in for a pa.s.s, then I want this room sealed."

She thought of the two underlined pa.s.sages, and wondered what riches and honor Flores waited for.

CHAPTER 2

IT WAS A LONG WAY FROM SPANISH HARLEM TO the Lower West Side and Cop Central. Long enough to have Peabody do the initial run on Miguel Flores and recite the salients while Eve maneuvered through traffic for a large chunk of Manhattan's length and breadth.

"Miguel Ernesto Flores," Peabody read from her PPC. "Born February six, 2025 in T aos, New Mexico. Parents, Anna Santiago Flores and Constantine Flores, were both killed when their bodega was robbed, summer of 2027. The mother was seven months pregnant."

"They get them?"

"They got them. Two guys, barely eighteen, and both serving life sentences. No parole. Flores was put in the system."

"The inscription was dated '31-and his mother had been dead four years by then. So who's Mama?"

"Maybe foster mother?"

"Maybe."

"Early education, State, but private Catholic high school and college."

"Private?" Eve interrupted, and snarled when a Rapid Cab cut her off. "Takes dough."

"Yeah. Maybe a scholars.h.i.+p? I 'll check on that. He entered the seminary straight out of college, spent several years working and living in Mexico.

Held dual citizens.h.i.+p. Transferred to St. Cristobal's November of 2054. Huh, there's a lag here, though. His last position was at a mission in Jarez until 2053, June."

"So where was Flores for over a year, and what was he doing? He had to have a boss-like Lopez. A pastor or whatever. Let's find out. Any youthful high jinks of the criminal variety?"

"Nothing here, and no flag indicating a sealed record."

"Private Catholic education's gotta be pricey. Unless there was a scholars.h.i.+p, and it covered most of the ground, how did he afford it? Where'd the money come from? We're going to need to peel some layers."

Eve frowned as she skirted around a maxibus. "The vic had a wrist unit on him-cheap one-and just under forty dollars in his wallet. Who pays these guys? Do they get paid? He had a standard ID, no credit or debit cards, no driver's license. A silver cross."

"Maybe the Pope pays them." Peabody 's square face turned thoughtful. "Not directly, but he's the head guy, so maybe it comes from him. I mean they must get paid something. They've got to live-buy food, clothes, pay for transportation."

"Under forty on him, no money in his room. We'll check bank accounts." Eve tapped her fingers on the wheel. "Let's go by the morgue, see if Morris has established COD."

"I f it was poison, it doesn't feel like self-termination. Plus," Peabody added, "I know Catholics are way against that, so it doesn't skew right for a priest to off himself."

"Pretty harsh to do it in front of a church full of people at a funeral service," Eve commented. "Or ... ironic. But no, it doesn't play. Wit statements are that he was moving right through the service, SOP. I f you're going to knock back some wine laced with poison, even if you're dead-ha-ha-set on it, you'd show some nerves, some hesitation. A little moment of: Okay, here goes nothing. Whatever."

"Maybe it wasn't target specific. Maybe whoever laced the wine just wanted to kill a priest. Like a religious vendetta."

"I t wasn't in the wine for the morning service, and it was in-if it was-for the funeral. Maybe somebody snuck in, broke into the box-thing, laced the wine without knowing who'd be taking the first drink. But my vote is Flores was the target."

But she'd hold her report in reserve until she talked to Morris.

Into the chilly, artificial air, death slipped and snuck-the G.o.d of all thieves. No amount of filtering, sealing or cleaning could quite banish the insidiously sweet and human smell. Used to it, Eve wound through the white, harshly lit corridors of the morgue-thought fleetingly about hitting Vending for a tube of Pepsi to kick up the caffeine level-and pushed open one of the doors of an autopsy room.

I t surprised her to be immediately a.s.saulted with the romantic perfume of roses. They stood, red as fresh blood, on one of the rolling tables used to hold the nasty tools of the trade performed there. Eve studied the small forest of them, and wondered if the naked corpse behind them appreciated their elegance.Elegant, too, was the man who hummed along with the choral music drifting through the rose- and death-scented air. Chief Medical Examiner Morris wore black today, but there was nothing ghoulish or funereal in the sharply tailored suit. The lightning-bolt blue T-s.h.i.+rt-probably silk-kicked it up a notch, Eve supposed. He'd pinned one of the red rosebuds to his lapel, and wound red and blue cords through his long black ponytail.

The clear, protective cloak didn't diminish the style, and when he turned his exotic eyes to her and smiled, Eve had to admit that kicked it up another notch.

"Nice flowers," she commented.

"Aren't they? A token from a friend. I decided to bring them in. They cla.s.s up the place, don't you think?"

"They're mag." Peabody walked over, took a sniff. "Man, there are like two dozen easy. Some token."

I t was an obvious ploy for more information, but Morris only continued to smile. "She's a very good friend. I t occurred to me I should have had flowers in here before. I t's traditional, after all, to bring them to the dead."

"Why is that?" Eve wondered.

"I believe they're symbolic of a resurrection, a kind of rebirth. Which," Morris continued, "your current interest should appreciate. Along with, I hope, the music. Mozart's 'Requiem.' "

"Okay." Eve looked over at Flores and doubted he appreciated much of anything, being dead, on a slab, and currently opened by one of Morris's delicate and effective Y cuts. "How'd he get here?"

"The road is long and winding. But his ended with a dose of poison with his wine and wafer."

"Cyanide."

Morris inclined his head. "Pota.s.sium cyanide to be precise. I t dissolves easily in liquid, and the dose was lethal. Enough, in fact, to have felled a rhino. I haven't finished with him yet, but other than being dead, he appears to be a very healthy corpse. Fit as a fiddle, if not ready for love."

"Sorry?"

"A play on an old song. The injuries were a result of his fall. He had bran cereal, rehydrated bananas, yogurt, and soy coffee about three hours before death. Sometime around p.u.b.erty he suffered a broken radius, left arm-it healed well. I 'm a.s.suming he trained-let's say religiously, because we can-and played sports."

"That fits."

"And may explain some of the wear on the joints, but doesn't satisfy me regarding the scarring."

"What scarring?"

Morris crooked his finger, then offered Eve a pair of microgoggles. "Let's start here." He adjusted his scope so Peabody could observe on the comp screen, then bent over Flores with Eve. "Here, between the fourth and fifth ribs. Very faint, and I believe someone made an attempt with Nu Skin or something similar to reduce the scarring. Nu Skin won't help on the rib itself, which still carries its own scar. See here."

Peabody made a gurgling sound behind them as Morris exposed the rib cage.

Eve studied the rib through the goggles. "Knife wound."

"Yes, indeed. And a second one here." He indicated the faint scar on the right upper pectoral. I 'll run tests, but my extremely expert opinion puts the first wound at no less than five, no more than ten years old, the second between ten and fifteen. And here, on the left forearm. Again, this would be barely visible to the naked eye. A good job."

"That's not a wound," Eve muttered as she scanned the faint pattern on the skin. "Tat removal."

"My prize student." Morris gave her a quick pat on the back. "I 'll send a copy of the enhanced visual to the lab. They should be able to recreate the image your priest had on his arm. Now for something really interesting. He's had face work."

Eve's head came up, her magnified eyes meeting Morris's. "What kind?"

"A full compliment, I think. But again, I haven't finished. I can tell you it was a first-cla.s.s job, and first-cla.s.s face work is very pricey. One would think out of the range of a servant of G.o.d."

"Yeah, you would." Slowly, she pulled off the goggles. "How long ago did he have the work?"

"I 'll need to work my magic to refine that, but again, about the same time he had the tattoo removed."

"A priest with tats who gets into knife fights." Eve set the goggles under a forest of red roses. "Who comes here going on six years ago with a new face. Yeah, it's pretty interesting."

"Who has jobs like us, Dallas?" Morris grinned at her. "Aren't we the lucky ones?""Well, we're a h.e.l.l of a lot luckier than Father Dead here."

You gotta wonder who," Peabody said the minute they walked back down the white tunnel.

"Of course I wonder who. I get paid to wonder who."

"No, well, yeah. But I meant about the roses. Who'd send Morris all those roses, and why?"